Suburban returns to normal after burst pipe limits emergency room

A water main break at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda forced the hospital to restrict access to its emergency room Thursday night, according to hospital officials.

The water main supplying the hospital’s air conditioning unit burst around 8 p.m. The resulting leak affected the emergency room, and some of the ER bays became unusable, said Ronna Borenstein-Levy, hospital spokeswoman.

Ambulances were diverted to other emergency medical facilities overnight while Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services personnel examined the hospital. The hospital continued to take walk-in emergency patients throughout the night, Borenstein-Levy said.

The leak stopped around 11 p.m. Thursday and the hospital’s emergency department was fully operational again by Friday morning, she said.

The hospital is still examining the cause of the leakage, according to Borenstein-Levy.